


An Elven Heart Beats Twice as Slow

by TooOceanBlue



Series: There Was Only One Bed [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: But just barely, F/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27903877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooOceanBlue/pseuds/TooOceanBlue
Summary: Lup flopped down on the bed, taking up more than half with her limbs sprawled wide. “I’ll have you know I’m a terrible sleeping partner. I’ll kick you off the bed,” she laughed.Barry quietly disagreed. He and Lup had shared a sleeping space before. He almost wished she would kick him in her sleep, just to keep him awake so he didn’t forget, in his drowsy state, what they were there for. Out loud he said, “It's- um, you’re fine. It’s pretty big anyway.”“At least they’ve got that going for them,” Lup muttered. “I give this plane uuuh, a six out of ten. Very nice beds. No sense of personal space.”
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup
Series: There Was Only One Bed [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043334
Comments: 11
Kudos: 61





	An Elven Heart Beats Twice as Slow

**Author's Note:**

> Mutual Pining where each character thinks the other doesn’t love them is OUT. Mutual Pining where each character knows how the other feels but they can’t act on it for Plot Reasons is IN.

Barry loitered near the front wall of the inn as Lup wove her way through the crowd towards the bar. There was no way they were going to navigate the busy room with all their equipment, so when they entered Lup had loaded him with her bag and told him to wait while she tried to get a place to stay for the night. The bright side to traveling so heavy was that if there  _ wasn’t  _ a room available, they’d be plenty equipt to camp outside. It would be nice to have a real roof over their heads though, with how the sky was looking.

Lup slipped back to his side, swinging a key between her fingers. “We’re in luck, my man, they’re not full yet.” She grabbed her pack from his shoulder, starting towards the front exit. “There’s an entrance to the rooms out back, unless you want to try for a hot meal.”

“N-no, I’m good.” The crowd was already getting to him.

“I didn’t think so,” Lup spoke in a false whisper as they stepped out of the inn. “I’ll conjure something better anyway, for sure.”

“Thanks, Lup.”

Barry followed Lup up the wooden stairs that extended from the back of the inn. The night sky was darkening even further as storm clouds gathered up ahead. Barry hoped the building had decent heating despite a lack of a modern furnace.

Lup found their room, opening the door with a flourish that fell flat upon surveying the interior. The dark wooden floor seemed plenty clean, and there was a dresser in front of a window facing the east. A single queen-sized bed was pushed against the wall directly across from the doorway,

“Right. I forgot this plane is all snuggly with each other.” Lup said, pulling her bags into the room and dropping them by the dresser.

“It’s uh, it’s better than sleeping in a tent, right?” Barry offered, half for himself.

“For sure, my dude,” Lup flopped down on the bed, taking up more than half with her limbs sprawled wide. “But I’ll have you know I’m a terrible sleeping partner. I’ll kick you off the bed,” she laughed.

Barry quietly disagreed. He and Lup had shared a sleeping space before. He almost wished she  _ would  _ kick him in her sleep, just to keep him awake so he didn’t forget, in his drowsy state, what they were there for. Out loud he said, “It- um, you’re fine. It’s pretty big anyway.”

“At least they’ve got that going for them,” Lup muttered. “I give this plane uuuh, a six out of ten. Very nice beds. No sense of personal space.”

Barry knelt down next to the dresser and began unpacking his things. “Just wait until it um- until the storm starts. This place hasn’t figured out electric heating.”

“I don’t care. You’re the one who's gonna have to go to the front desk and ask for more blankets when I steal yours.” She sat up. “You feel like dinner? I’ve got some spices in my bag if you wanna help me get started.”

“I thought you were conjuring food?”

“I’m still going to  _ doctor  _ it Barry, do I look like an animal? Don’t answer that, we’ve been hiking for three days.”

“You look great, Lup.”

Lup stood up fully, wandering towards the door. “Oh uh, natch, but I’m still gonna see what this place has in terms of uh, internal plumbing. I’d kill for a shower, but something tells me I’m gonna have to heat my own water.” Her hand paused on the handle. “Care to join?”

Barry had to beat his thoughts back with a stick. At least a plane without electricity meant that it was dark enough that Lup probably couldn’t see the color in his cheeks. “N-no, um, I- I think I’m gonna finish unpacking first. I’ll- I’ll get one later.”

Lup shrugged, and stepped out into the hallway. It wouldn’t take more than five minutes to unpack. She could have waited so they could walk down together. Which is what she’d meant, not- not that the alternative hadn’t crossed her mind. It was getting just too easy to flirt with Barry.

A decade ago it wouldn’t have been. But they had all gotten so close- sharing a bed could exist within a sort of platonic pretense now, something she couldn’t decide if she was grateful for or not. She guessed she would know by tonight.

Barry finished unpacking and did what he could for their room. He pulled out the ingredients from Lup’s bag and placed them on the small dresser- more of an end table really- in front of the window. He lit the oil lamps with a quick cantrip, then snuffed them out when he realized the room would be empty while he looked for the washroom.

Barry was just opening the door to head down to try to find an employee to ask for directions when he heard Lup call from the hallway behind him.

“Great timing Barry, they’re on this floor.”

“Oh! That’s uh, that’s convenient.” Lup had let her hair down, the extra layers from their hiking trip removed, apparently halfway to her bath already as she stuck her head out of the door at the far end of the hall. She pulled a face.

“Yeah, they probably don’t want people naked on the same floor as the food. But hey, closer for us, right?” She opened the door further as he approached. “They’ve got a couple of tubs, but there are uh, screens between them.” She stepped in and slid a divider back and forth for emphasis. “Should be cool though, unless you want to wait ‘til I’m done. But I think other people might come up after dinner, and I don’t know if they’ll respect your modesty as well as I will.” She winked.

Oh. They were supposed to- to bathe in the same room. At the same time.

Well, not technically, if the dividers could be considered proper separation. But they would definitely still be able to  _ hear  _ each other, and Barry wasn’t sure that was something he could deal with after such a long day.

Then again, the alternative was waiting until later and bathing with a lot more people in the room.

“No, that- that should be uh, f-fine.”

“Good,” Lup tossed him a towel before closing the divider between two of the tubs. “Grabbed one for you from the front.”

“Oh, th-thanks.” Barry held the towel awkwardly. The sound of fabric dropping to the floor sent a jolt through him, and he stepped towards his own tub. Right. They were doing this then. He closed the second divider. 

The tub looked like it was made of a copper alloy, and- thankfully- clean. The faucet, and likely the faucets of the other tubs as well, ran towards a large closed vat under which were sigils that Barry recognized as a warming spell. Nicer than Barry expected, honestly. They had stayed in far worse places, though not necessarily on this plane. It was hard to keep track though, unless he was actively trying to remember. It all ran together sometimes.

Barry turned the faucet, testing the water for a minute before he began to undress. Lup’s water was running as well. He tried not to think about it.

“Fuck yeah!” he heard.

“What?”

“Hot water!”

Barry laughed, caught off guard. “Yeah they have a- a tank over here. Uh, it’s not electric, but they’ve got a sigil.”

“Oh shit, really? Let me take a look after.”

“Y-yeah, of course.” Barry waited a few beats after the exchange to finish undressing before he quickly slid under the water. Not that the water revealed any less, and they were separated by the dividers, but it made him feel a little more secure. A moment later, he heard the dip of water and a sigh from Lup. He closed his eyes and tried to will his senses into shutting off completely. He would even cast a silence spell, if doing so wouldn’t inevitably lead to Lup asking him questions he wasn’t ready to answer.

Lup heard Barry sigh as he slid into the water, and she quickly finished rolling up her clothes and sank into her own bath. She’d planned to get in and out as quickly as possible, to give Barry more than just a semblance of privacy while he finished his bath, but the warm water quickly had her resolve wavering. It had been a long day, and it would almost certainly be an even longer night. Could a girl not simply lay back in the water, close her eyes, and pretend that maybe the man she was in love with wasn’t on the other side of a divider? Lup’s eyes snapped open.

No, cut that out. There was no reason she should let her mind wander, just because she was tired and they were alone and they’d been in love for-

_ She’d _ been in love. She had been in love for decades.  _ They _ had been friends for decades. Family even. But they couldn’t- there wasn’t any room for them to be in love. They couldn’t be. Lup grabbed her sponge stubbornly and began to wash. The water didn’t seem quite so tempting anymore.

Barry heard a splash and was reminded that he was not in fact here to turn into a turtle and hide under the water until Lup was out of the room. He washed himself as quickly and quietly as he could, trying to ignore the waterfall sound that came with Lup rising from her own tub. So she was standing naked five feet away from him. He was  _ fine. _

Lup was waiting for him when he dressed and opened his side of the divider, wearing simpler clothes than before. She stepped in and crouched down under the tank to inspect the heating sigils, tracing her hand along the stone floor. She scoffed. “I could do better.”

“Yeah, I- I bet.” Barry agreed. She did have a few dozen planes worth of knowledge that these people lacked, but he didn’t see much use in mentioning that. Lup’s confidence was as stubborn as it was inspiring. 

They headed back to their room, feeling the chill in the inn more acutely than they had before. Rain began to patter against the window as Lup cast a managed version of create food and water and began to season it to her preference. Well, a compromise of it. She always tried to keep things mild enough that he could stomach it, something that Taako had teased her over on more than one occasion.

All things considered, the conversation they fell into over dinner was a comfortable one. They’d gotten good at that, over the years, ignoring the obvious. In this case the obvious was a single bed, and the steadily decreasing temperature in the room as the storm gathered outside.

They’d shared a bed before. Honestly, Barry had been in this kind of position with almost everyone on the crew at this point and thought little past it aside from anxieties over his body and whether or not he would snore. But it was different with Lup, had been different for years, and he didn’t know if they would still be able to keep up the pretense. But they had to, desperately. Barry sighed.

“You getting tired, my man?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s- it’s been a long day.” It wasn’t a lie.

“For sure. I could go for a good food coma myself.” Lup flicked her hand, and the dishes from their dinner disappeared. “Bland food for no cleanup.”

“Hey, uh- n-no complaints here.”

“Oh, yeah, of course  _ you  _ don’t have complaints,” Lup stretched, stepping over to the bed. She hesitated. “Uh, right side okay for you?”

“Yeah that’s- th-that’s fine.” Barry sat down on the right side of the bed as Lup slid under the covers, casting prestidigitation on the oil lamp at the far side of the room. She kept the one on Barry’s side of the bed lit.

“You can shut that off,” Lup said. “Didn’t want to leave you in the dark.”

“No, I’m, uh- I’m not gonna trip over something in my sleep, I should be okay.”

“Unless I steal all the blankets,” Lup said. It sounded halfhearted. “Then you’ll have to go down and get more, and you’ll trip because of your dinky human eyes.”

“Then, uh, then you’ll have to get more blankets.” Barry said, finally pulling himself into bed. He lay far from Lup, as close to the edge as he could without risk of falling off or being suspiciously  _ too  _ far away. 

“Hmm, No.” Lup chewed at her lip. “I guess we’ll just have to share.”

They lay in silence as Barry snuffed out the other oil lamp. The rainstorn had picked up in the background of their conversation and now battered against the window. Barry could feel the chill. They lay in silence.

This was nothing compared to earlier, Barry told himself. Nevermind that before they’d had a divider, and now there was nothing but space between them, nothing but cold weather to bring them closer.

Feelings always took hold in the dark, like the night they had nearly drowned him, when she found him crying and he had realized, unbidden by the reason that daytime brought, that he loved her. It terrified him.

Lup’s voice broke the silence. “Barry,” she whispered, quiet and sure, “come here.”

Barry’s eyes followed the sound, even in the darkness. Lup lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. He shuffled closer under the covers. Still not over to her side of the bed, but closer, in the middle. She turned on her side to meet him, her face inches from his. She didn’t put an arm around him, but their forearms still brushed together between them. It was still closer than his brain could handle. Barry laced his fingers with hers. Lup stayed quiet, watching him.

“That’s a little warmer,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Barry agreed. It would be so easy to keep going.  _ Yeah, _ he would say  _ And I love you.  _ Instead he focused on the feeling of Lup’s hand squeezing his own, at the unblinking eyes that wouldn’t leave his. She raised their hands to his face, barely brushing his nose with her thumb.

“Your nose is cold,” she whispered. “They should make, like- nose muffs of something. It’s gonna fall off.”

“I could cover- I could go under the covers.” Barry offered.

Lup’s jaw tensed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

“Okay,” Barry promised. “I won’t.”

Their hands settled between them, each brushing the other’s chest.

“You’re driving me crazy, Barry.”

“S-sorry,” he moved to pull his hand back, but Lup held tight.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Barry swallowed. “I don’t know-” his voice cracked. “I don’t know...if I can keep doing this, Lup.”

“Me neither,” she confessed. “But don’t go.”

“I don’t- th-there’s not really anywhere else for me to sleep.”

Lup laughed, bringing their hands to her lips. It wasn’t a kiss, not really. Her grip was so strong it nearly hurt. “Right,” she said, “there’s only one bed.”

Barry was a man of reason. He made no assertions without evidence, without research and peer-reviews and scientific process. But he knew. He would bet his life on this unshakable truth as she gripped his hand and they shared a bed out of necessity as they had with so many others, that she loved him.

“We should get some sleep,” she whispered. 

Barry nodded, closing his eyes. It was hard to look away from her, even a barely outlined shadow in the dark. But it had been a long day, and his body ached to recover. Slowly, inevitably, he fell asleep.

-

Lup awoke from her trance to Barry’s body pressed against hers. He had turned in the night, closer than two people who were in love with each other and trying very hard not to be should be. 

But she’d been as close with Magnus, with most of their crew at this point. If no one said anything, they should be in the clear. Lup adjusted under the covers, burrowing against him. It was still cold in the room, even as the storm had subsided to a steady patter against the window.

It would be a few hours still until the world woke up. Humans needed sleep, a frankly comical amount of it, and with how far they had hiked yesterday Barry would need even more. She breathed in deeply.

It would be hard to give this up. She remembered each time she’d woken up next to him with treasured clarity, and every time she thought of it it became more and more difficult to not find some justification to keep sharing this with him. But she knew she wouldn’t be able to maintain any pretense for long. Three nights maybe, before she cracked. Barry stirred in his sleep, and Lup began to rub circles over his shoulder, making soothing sounds in the back of her throat almost on impulse before he settled against her again. She didn't want him to wake up just yet. She didn't want this to be over.

Okay, maybe one night. Or less. She wasn’t sure she was going to make it through the morning.

-

Barry woke slowly, curling closer to the warmth under the covers. He probably would have stayed like that, as comfortable as he was, if it weren’t for Lup’s distinct presence. He couldn’t let himself remain half-asleep like this; he would probably say something stupid. He opened his eyes.

Lup was watching him, her face just as close as it had been last night, her arm curled over his. She didn't move when she saw him staring back though. They lay like that for minutes. Barry didn’t dare speak. Then Lup leaned closer, infinitesimally.

“It’s really gross outside,” Barry said, the logical excuse for their closeness. Who he was making the excuse for, he didn’t know. Lup pulled back. Barry wanted to claw his throat out.

“Yeah,” she sighed, “But we’ve still gotta get going. The Light isn’t going to collect itself.” She rolled herself out of bed, headed for the change of clothes she kept in her pack.

Barry groaned as he sat up, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed as he popped his back. Lup was right. They had work to do. He wasn’t upset. He knew- he knew why it had to be like this. 

But it had been hard not to lean in to kiss her, to meet her half way when he knew she’d kiss him back, to not wrap her in his arms and roll back into bed and nap for the rest of the day, to whisper to her everything he’d been wanting to say for the past decade. To hear it back, for once.

“You okay Barry?” Lup asked.

“Yeah, uh just- just a little sore,” He lied. He’d never slept better in his life, and she knew it. 

“Yuh-oh. Sounds like somebody’s due for a checkup with Merle.” Lup teased.

“I’m feeling better, actually.” Barry said, standing up and joining Lup to gather his travelling clothes.

Lup smirked, and after a moment of hesitation reached up to run a hand over his hair. “Oh, wow, what a stellar fucking healer, to fix you up when he’s not even here!”

“One of a kind,” Barry agreed. This was fine. Lup was laughing and smiling at him and they were going to find the Light of Creation and save this plane and do their  _ job.  _ And to be with each other through it, well, that was more than they could ask for.

They took their time packing up as they waited for the last of the rain to clear up. They took breakfast downstairs; no point wasting a spell slot when there was a perfectly good-  _ bad _ , Lup whispered over oatmeal and apple slices- warm meal to be had at the inn. They might need them on their hike, besides. 

He did a tremendously good job at keeping his mind off how close they had been the night before. And that morning. He wouldn’t- he wouldn’t make things weird  _ now _ , after  _ years _ , by bringing it to light just because he couldn't sleep next to her without wanting more. Or he would try not to, but Lup grabbed his hand as they finished packing up to leave, halting him before he could cross the doorway.

“Barry?”

“Yeah Lup?”

“I think we need to figure out a- a plan of action for this shit.” She said slowly.

“For finding the Light?”

“Barry.” Lup gripped his hand tighter, her nails digging lightly into his palm. She met his gaze with intent. Okay. Yeah. A plan of action. Barry thought they had things down pretty solid with “just ignore it” but- but if there could be something else,  _ anything  _ else-

“I mean it.” Lup held his gaze, a promise as much as her hands intertwined with his. “We’re gonna figure out a way to make this work.”

Barry nodded. If he opened his mouth, he knew it would all come pouring out. Lup seemed to understand, and nodded once in return.

“You ready to go then? It’s gonna be muddy as hell today.”

“Yeah,” Barry agreed. “I’m ready.”

Barry and Lup checked out of their room, dropping the key off at the front desk and leaving out the back. It was indeed muddy as hell, though the rain had thankfully stayed at bay. In her impatience to reach the arch of a particularly steep hill, Lup’s feet slid out from under her as she began to run ahead. Her hand shot towards Barry’s to keep herself upright before she laughed off her exuberance.

But Barry noticed that for the first time, as he and Lup carried on, she didn’t once let go.

**Author's Note:**

> They will keep not letting go :'). I'm not as proud as this as I maybe could be, but the world can never have enough blupjeans and I MUST provide haha. Comments and Kudos are much appreciated!


End file.
